Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat - Door County Web Map

Presettlement ecological processes have been disturbed by roads, residential development, poor
logging practices, and past forest grazing. Roads and residential development constitute the clearest and
most damaging change in this landscape. However, despite the fragmentation by roads, agricultural land
and residential development, a practical ecological corridor for many species and processes is already
present and restoration opportunities exist throughout the site on abandoned agricultural fields. The
condition of the surrounding landscape is typical for northern Door County, being a mix of open fields
(abandoned or under cultivation), small woodlots and wetlands and scattered residential buildings.
While this site constitutes a major ecological pathway across the peninsula it should also be noted
that it also links natural landscapes on both coasts of the peninsula. The Hibbards Creek and Meridian
Park forests provide the link from the Bjorklunden forest to the Cave Point/Whitefish Dunes forest. On
the Green Bay coast the forests of Peninsula Park and the Fish Creek watershed protect exposed bluffs of
the Niagara Escarpment that represent several of the best in a series of outcrops that run the length of the
peninsula (i.e., Boyer’s Bluff, Door Bluff, Ellison Bluff, Sister Bay Bluffs, White Cliff Road Bluffs, Bay
Shore Blufflands, and Potawatomi Bluffs).
Overall, the species richness of the site is very good with state and federally listed species
present. Wisconsin’s Natural Heritage Inventory has documented 57 rare animals, invertebrates, plants
and natural community types within this proposed conservation area. Refer to Appendices “A”, “B” and
“C” for further information.
NOTEWORTHY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL FEATURES:
After the last survivors of the Winnebago Indians fled to an area around Lake Winnebago, the
Peninsula became the domain of the Potawatomi. Their largest village was Mechingan, at the mouth of
Hibbards Creek, just north of present day Jacksonport, which was the last district to be settled in the
county. The Potawatomi were very hospitable and liked nothing more than to be praised for their
generosity. It was in the early 1650’s that a great war was raging in Lower Ontario and the adjoining
regions.
The Iroquois, perhaps the most warlike of the Indian tribes, came to the peninsula’s shores of
Lake Michigan hunting the remnants of several tribes, among many, they had been seeking to destroy.
These fleeing tribes sought refuge from the Iroquois, at the Potawatomi village of Mechingan, swelling its
population from around 1500 to 4000. It was here that the Iroquois met defeat. This was one of the most
important events in the history of western Indians (Holand 1925). The Hibbards Creek area has been one
of the more significant archeological sites in the state. Many of the relics found there can be seen at the
Neville Public Museum in Green Bay.
SITE FEATURES:
Fish Creek Watershed
Fish Creek is a small 1 and ½ mile long, 8-foot wide stream with a moderate gradient of 15 feet
per mile. The headwaters of the stream are spring fed. Button Marsh is a large forested wetland
associated with Fish Creek. The creek runs the length of the Niagara Escarpment until a pooling area
occurs at a small dam. From that point the creek flows through the village of Fish Creek and then into
Fish Creek Harbor at the southern boundary of Peninsula State Park.
• Fish Creek is in the Town of Gibraltar. Gibraltar has adopted Door County’s zoning ordinance.
• Land use near Fish Creek is predominantly woodlots with lesser amounts of idle farmland, orchards,
other natural lands, farmed areas, and scattered single family residences.
• Soils near Fish Creek are shallow to deep, well drained, and almost level to moderately steep. A
loamy sandy loam or loam subsoil overlays loam or find sandy loam till or dolostone bedrock (USDA
SCS 1978).
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Bay to Lake Wildlife Corridor